St. John's Ambulance and pronouns.

[Imnobody4]

Surely this is illegal.

https://twitter.com/JamesEsses/status/1773278681286283498?t=SnCzWxajwU_7aBbspQ_2Ww&s=19

Wow.

Internal job applicants at @stjohnambulance are asked to share their pronouns.

If they refuse, text pops up chastising them and pressuring them to “reconsider”.

If they still refuse, they are told to explain why they won’t share them.

This is ideological harassment

You are right. It is.

It is an attempt to compel action, speech and thought, and is shameful!

Somewhere on the trustee board or in the leadership team will be a TRA pushing this.

"Pronouns are something that everybody has" isn't exactly true, is it?

I would be happy to choose mine if they could give a clear explanation of what they will assume them to mean and whether choosing one is active confirmation that I have a gender identity.

I don't understand why so many people refuse to be clear and honest about this.

'Pronouns are something everyone has'.

I disagree.

I no more have my pronouns than I have my adjectives.

If I had them, I'd see myself as glamorous, intelligent, charming and witty. Should others be obliged to use these words about me? If not, why not?

I'm told St John Ambulance also expect volunteers to 'share their pronouns'. They wouldn't be seeing me again if I volunteered with them.

Frankly, I don't care what words people use about me when I'm not present (and usually don't care even when I am - I'm past that shite). We rarely hear our "own" pronouns and anyone can use any they like (I suspect "bitch" may be among them).

As somebody once said - "What other people think of you is none of your business."

There will be someone looking to gain Stonewall ally points for personal reasons and to burnish the CV.

It's amazing how diversity pushes seem to only ever be aimed at one characteristic. There is no diversity in diversity

Definitely this!

Stonewall champion - in their EDI strategy

https://www.sja.org.uk/globalassets/hero-block-images/volunteer/edi-strategy-2022-23.pdf

No need to get our knickers in a twist. The obvious answer is I/me/my.

I work in corporate law and my firm have drunk the cool aid and then some. We've had a notification today reminding us 31 March is Trans Awareness Day and encouraging us (for the umpteenth time) to share our pronouns in solidarity and to show alliance

I am v v obviously female with an obviously female name, but v tempted to change mine to he/him but not sure even this obvious piss take would get the fuckers off our backs

I love this! There is no diversity in diversity really sums it up!

I love the way that, when using the ' this is Jo, she is a volunteer..' . They weren't brave enough to use the example, ' this is Dave, she is a volunteer...'

Oh dear, you've forgotten mine/myself

Everyone is referred to in the third person. You can base yours on your sex.

Changing pronouns from sex based to something which expresses an identity is putting people in boxes. There is no gender which matches my individual identity. I'm not a conformist. So my pronouns would have to be literal/literals which does rather feel like taking the piss. But I can't say they're she/her because that makes it looks like I identify as a woman and with regressive stereotypes and I don't.

Can you put I me mine?

In all the job interviews I have done in my decades of work, no-one has ever referred to me by my pronouns.

Furthermore, this information, that refers to your protected characteristics, should not be linked to your job/ volunteer application (except in specific circumstances) as it can lead to candidates being discriminated against, such as for being female. So they really shouldn't be asking for pronouns at this stage so that they 'know how to refer to you.'

Furthermore, I have never seen a form asking me to explain why I don't want to state, say, my ethnicity or sexuality. Its highly inappropriate for them to ask this. This information is for equality monitoring purposes only.

And finally, we all know this creates a hostile environment for people with GC views, especially the ' why not' question. Asking for pronouns is not a neutral act, its a political one.

Surely a possible answer is

"I haven't decided yet"

No I can't because either pronouns are sex based, in which case TW are he, or they are identity based, in which case I don't have any because I am an Individual and don't feel aligned with any gender identity. If I put she/her it's a misrepresentation of my identity.

I think the issue for some of us is that we don't think that we should choose how other people speak about us. In all other aspects of speech and text, the responsibility for choosing words lies with the speaker or writer. Not with the subject of the words. Personally I can't get my head around why this would be different. I choose the words when I'm speaking, other people choose the words when they are speaking, even if it is about me or even to me.

I recently filled out a form for my Council and one of the choices was "I'm not sure."

Edit- for "gender," not pronouns specifically.

I left SJA (it’s St John, not St John’s) last year after 5 years working closely with the HR team. This was one of the reasons. I was sick and tired of battling the pro-trans obsession. Their policy states that if someone objects to sharing toilets or changing rooms with someone that is trans they will be “educated” and if they still refuse they’ll face disciplinary proceedings for harassment. I tried everything I could but it fell on deaf ears. There is a hierarchy of protected characteristics there.

Nobody in senior positions/board is trans but there are influential people with trans friends and family members.

I’ve heard comments from senior leaders about not wanting the sort of people that would voice concerns about trans rights (over those of women or due to religious belief) in the organisation.

There are only a couple of thousand staff but 30,000 volunteers and I think what James has posted is from the volunteer recruitment site.

I find it absolutely remarkable that public bodies have fallen into this absurd youth cult where we are all supposed to spend time discovering what our 'gender identity' is, as this is so terribly important. When really, for nearly everyone, its not important at all.

When actually, for young people, finding out what your aptitudes and skills are is much more important, because then you can find a job that will suit you and you can do well in. Or spending time finding out what brings you joy and meaning, so that you can build that into your life and have a happy, fulfilling life. Or spending time learning how to get along with other people, so that you have good social connections and are happy and supported in life. Or learning how to have appropriate boundaries.

These things will materially affect the quality of your life for all of your life.

I’m guessing you don’t need me to tell you their policy on youth camps and who sleeps where.